Warner Oland
Acting • Born 1879-10-03 – Died 1938-08-06
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund, October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American characters: the Honolulu Police detective, Lieutenant Charlie Chan; Dr. Fu Manchu; and Henry Chang in Shanghai Express. His family emigrated to the United States when he was 13. He pursued a film career that would include time on Broadway and dozens of film appearances, including 16 Charlie Chan films. After several years in theater, including appearances on Broadway as Warner Oland, in 1912 he made his silent film debut in Pilgrim's Progress, a film based on the John Bunyan novel. As a result of his training as a Shakespearean actor and his easy adoption of a sinister look, he was much in demand as a villain and in ethnic roles. Over the next 15 years, he appeared in more than 30 films, including a major role in The Jazz Singer (1927), one of the first talkies produced. Oland's normal appearance fit the Hollywood expectation of caricatured Asianness of the time, despite his having no definitively proven Asian cultural background. Oland portrayed a variety of Asian characters in several movies before being offered the leading role in the 1929 film, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu. It was the first onscreen portrayal of the Fu Manchu character in film. Oland continued to appear onscreen as an Asian, probably more often than any other white actor in the history of cinema. In Old San Francisco, Oland played an Asian unsuccessfully impersonating a white man. Oland was the first actor to play a werewolf in a major Hollywood film, biting the protagonist, played by Henry Hull, in Werewolf of London (1935). Once again, Oland's character was Asian. A box office success, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu made Oland a star, and during the next two years he portrayed the evil Dr. Fu Manchu in three more films (although the second one was purely a cameo appearance). Firmly locked into such roles, he was cast as Charlie Chan in the international detective mystery film Charlie Chan Carries On (1931) and then in director Josef von Sternberg's 1932 classic film Shanghai Express opposite Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. The enormous worldwide box office success of his Charlie Chan film led to more, with Oland starring in 16 Chan films in total. The series, Jill Lepore later wrote, "kept Fox afloat" during the 1930s, while earning Oland $40,000 per movie. Oland took his role seriously, studying the Chinese language and calligraphy.
Filmography
99 credits
Shanghai Express
Movie • 1932
Mr. Henry Chang
The Jazz Singer
Movie • 1927
Cantor Rabinowitz
The Romance of Elaine
Movie • 1915
The Winding Stair
Movie • 1925
Petras
Charlie Chan at the Olympics
Movie • 1937
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Circus
Movie • 1936
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Secret
Movie • 1936
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at the Race Track
Movie • 1936
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Egypt
Movie • 1935
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in London
Movie • 1934
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Paris
Movie • 1935
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan in Shanghai
Movie • 1935
Charlie Chan
The Horror Show
Movie • 1979
(archive footage)
Werewolf of London
Movie • 1935
Dr. Yogami
Man of the Forest
Movie • 1926
Clint Beasley
Charlie Chan at the Opera
Movie • 1936
Charlie Chan
The Naulahka
Movie • 1918
Maharajah
The Big Gamble
Movie • 1931
Andrew North
The Black Camel
Movie • 1931
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan on Broadway
Movie • 1937
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo
Movie • 1937
Charlie Chan
As Husbands Go
Movie • 1934
Hippolitus Lomi
The Painted Veil
Movie • 1934
General Yu
Dishonored
Movie • 1931
Colonel von Hindau
Sailor Izzy Murphy
Movie • 1927
Perfume Manufacturer
Daughter of the Dragon
Movie • 1931
Fu Manchu
Don Juan
Movie • 1926
Cesare Borgia
When a Man Loves
Movie • 1927
André Lescaut
Don Q Son of Zorro
Movie • 1925
The Archduke Paul
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu
Movie • 1929
Dr. Fu Manchu
The Drums of Jeopardy
Movie • 1931
Dr. Boris Karlov
Before Dawn
Movie • 1933
Dr. Paul Cornelius
Shanghai
Movie • 1935
Ambassador Lun Sing
Stand and Deliver
Movie • 1928
Ghika - the Bandit Leader
The Studio Murder Mystery
Movie • 1929
Rupert Borka
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back
Movie • 1934
Prince Achmed
Yellowface: Asian Whitewashing and Racism in Hollywood
Movie • 2019
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu
Movie • 1930
Dr. Fu Manchu
The Son-Daughter
Movie • 1932
Fen Sha
The Avalanche
Movie • 1919
Nick Delano
The Reapers
Movie • 1916
James Shaw
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
Movie • 1942
Self (archive footage)
Dangerous Paradise
Movie • 1930
Schomberg
Pilgrim's Progress
Movie • 1912
John Bunyon
Wheel of Chance
Movie • 1928
Mosher Turkeltaub
Mandalay
Movie • 1934
Nick
Charlie Chan's Courage
Movie • 1934
Charlie Chan
Charlie Chan's Chance
Movie • 1932
Charlie Chan
The Fatal Ring
Movie • 1917
Richard Carslake
The Lightning Raider
Movie • 1919
Wu Fang
In Search of Charlie Chan
Movie • 2006
Charlie Chan (archive footage)
A Passport to Hell
Movie • 1932
Baron von Sydow, Police Commandant
Tell It to the Marines
Movie • 1926
Chinese Bandit Chief
The Faker
Movie • 1929
Hadrian
Old San Francisco
Movie • 1927
Chris Buckwell
Movies on Sundays
Movie • 1935
Charlie Chan (uncredited)
Dream of Love
Movie • 1928
The Duke
Good Time Charley
Movie • 1927
Good Time Charley Keene
The Marriage Clause
Movie • 1926
Max Ravenal
Chinatown Nights
Movie • 1929
"Boston Charley" Wu
Riders of the Purple Sage
Movie • 1925
Lew Walters aka Judge Dyer
Curlytop
Movie • 1924
Shanghai Dan
The Vagabond King
Movie • 1930
Thibault
Patria
Movie • 1917
Baron Huroki
The Rise of Susan
Movie • 1916
Sinclair La Salle
The Eternal Sapho
Movie • 1916
H. Coudal
The Scarlet Lady
Movie • 1928
Ivan Zaneriff
Days of Thrills and Laughter
Movie • 1961
Self (archive footage)
Flower of Night
Movie • 1925
Luke Rand
Twinkletoes
Movie • 1926
Roseleaf
Charlie Chan's Greatest Case
Movie • 1933
Charlie Chan
A Million Bid
Movie • 1927
Geoffrey Marsh
The Mighty
Movie • 1929
Sterky
Paramount on Parade
Movie • 1930
Fu Manchu (Murder Will Out)
How to Break 90 #3: Hip Action
Movie • 1933
Himself
Beatrice Fairfax
Movie • 1916
Detective
The Twin Pawns
Movie • 1919
John Bent
Charlie Chan Carries On
Movie • 1931
Charlie Chan
Complicated Women
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
What Happened To Father
Movie • 1927
W. Bradberry, Father
East Is West
Movie • 1922
Charley Yong
Hurricane Hutch
Movie • 1921
Clifton Marlow
His Children's Children
Movie • 1923
Dr. Dahl
The Pride of Palomar
Movie • 1922
Okada
The Eternal Question
Movie • 1916
Pierre Felix
Infatuation
Movie • 1925
Osman Pasha
Destruction
Movie • 1915
Mr. Deleveau
The Fighting American
Movie • 1924
Fu Shing
The Third Eye
Movie • 1920
Curtis Steele / Malcolm Graw
The Witness for the Defense
Movie • 1919
Captain Ballantyne
Sin
Movie • 1915
Pietro
The Yellow Ticket
Movie • 1918
Baron Andrey
The Phantom Foe
Movie • 1920
Uncle Leo Sealkirk
So This Is Marriage?
Movie • 1924
King David
Monster by Moonlight! The Immortal Saga of 'The Wolf Man'
Movie • 1999
Self (archive footage)
Mandarin's Gold
Movie • 1919
Li Hsun
The Yellow Arm
Movie • 1921
Joel Bain
The Cigarette Girl
Movie • 1917
Mr. Wilson
The Mystery Club
Movie • 1926
Eli Sinsabaugh